


open water

by demi_god



Series: the demigod series [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Demigods, M/M, Ogygia (Percy Jackson)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29455842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demi_god/pseuds/demi_god
Summary: It's been nearly five weeks since he'd washed ashore and woken up on the mythical island. The same amount of time since the Ares ship was obliterated by the son of Poseidon - damned Derek Hale - in a battle at sea.ORTheo meets his greatestwhat if.
Relationships: Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski
Series: the demigod series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2155698
Kudos: 22





	open water

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot ficlet diverts from the original chronology of the demigod series, but you can read this as a standalone. :)

\---

It’s been nearly five weeks since he’d washed ashore and woken up on the mythical island. The same amount of time since the Ares ship was obliterated by the son of Poseidon - damned Derek Hale - in a battle at sea. Three Olympians are at peril with each other - Athena, Poseidon, and Ares - and so are their demigod children by default. Everyone’s taking sides, and the world has been in utter chaos for a while. 

It’s nice to be at peace, for once, and to be away from monsters, gods, enemies, allies, and war. It can be exhausting when somewhere along the line, you question what you’re fighting for, and who you’re fighting against, and who is stabbing you in the back. The gods are downright apoplectic with one another. And since they are forbidden to strike each other by some old law, they send their children in combat to defend their honor. Theo only wanted somewhere to belong after losing his only family, and now, he didn’t have that, either.

“What are you thinking about?”

Theo turns from his perusal of the sea. It’s so tranquil - it’s tough to grasp that these are the same waters that consumed the wreckage of their ship along with him and his siblings over a month ago. He swallows the lump in his throat. Has he lost another brother or sister, or have they also found themselves an island where they could nurture back to health?

She beams up to him - that soft, radiant, caring smile of someone born to provide affection. She’s so enchanting, the finest girl Theo’s ever seen. Her appeal is ethereal, _divine_ \- which makes sense for she’s an immortal and a Titaness. She’s an ancient deity put on earth to define beauty.

“My siblings,” He answers ruefully. “They went down with me in the water.”

She nods in compassion, “I know you’re worried, but if I can tell you one thing, it’s that they’re all right.”

Theo doesn’t know why, but he believes her, just like that. He feels relief seeping into his skin, but the longing in his heart still weighs him down. She doesn’t miss that.

“Did you think about my offer?” She asks in a small voice. There’s sadness in her eyes. Like she already knows the answer and that it’s going to break her heart.

She offered him divinity - the same immortality blessed upon herself. If he stays on the island, he will be like her - forever young and beautiful. He will live on the island that provides all of their needs before they can even think of needing it, with her, and maybe someday become family. They will have eternity with each other.

There’s an unsettling churn in his stomach at the thought.

It should be easy to stay. Theo will be free of the burden of championing for warring gods, and he gets to have the kindest, most loving person, who nursed him all of the four weeks it took to recuperate. She fed him nectar and ambrosia - the drink and food of the gods -from her own delicate hands. It shouldn’t be hard to love her. 

_And yet._

She looks down at the sand to hide the tears in her eyes. “It’s okay,” she murmurs. When she lifts her head, her eyes are moist, and her braided hair is swaying in the wind. “At least, I tried. But you have someone in your heart that I cannot come close to compete,”

Theo shakes his head. He starts to say, “It’s not like that -”

She interrupts him, not unkindly. “It _is_ like that, hero. It’s always been like that, and it will continue to be like that. It’s my curse,”

“Calypso -”

“I cannot leave _Ogygia_ ,” she says, hugging herself. “And no one ever chooses to stay.”

“I do,” Theo insists. “Some part of me _does_ want to stay. But,” he exhales, unsure of where he even wants the conversation to go. He’s disconcerted.

“But your heart belongs to someone waiting at home for you,” she finishes for him, smiling in sorrow but with understanding. She dabs at her eyes, “Is it a child of Aphrodite?”

Theo frowns because there's no one, but she is so sure that there is. And he’s confused because he believes her - and Theo somehow senses it’s the truth - but he hasn’t even imagined ever _loving_ someone. “No, I - I don’t have - No.”

She faces the sea, her toes playing with the little waves touching her bare feet. “A child of the God of War is usually drawn to a child of the Goddess of Love. Like Ares and Aphrodite. I just thought.”

He looks onward, too, copying her - allowing the sound of the tide hugging the coast to fill the silence between them. He stares at the vast ocean ahead, not seeing anything but open water. His mind conjures up a memory - sometime before everything went downhill at Camp Half-Blood - of when Stiles, the Camp’s official welcome wagon and tutor, had regaled him about the story of Calypso in one of their study sessions.

_“Ogygia is unplottable; you get there once by fate, but no one ever finds it twice. The gods send Calypso heroes to tend that she can’t help falling in love within a brief time. But the same ones that cannot accept her offer of companionship because their hearts are bound to others - always the heroes that are already deep in love. It’s the gods’ punishment to her for supporting her father, Atlas, during the Titan War.”_

Always the heroes that are already deep in love.

“Your raft has arrived,” her voice pulls him back to the present. It takes Theo a few seconds to process what she said but then follows her line of sight. 

In the water, there is indeed a wooden raft that wasn’t there moments ago, waiting for its voyager. 

“Lord Hermes has sent your ride back home,” she smiles through misty eyes. “Take care on your journey.”

Theo hates to leave her like this. But as soon as he sees the raft, his heart soars at the prospect of going home. It might be in shambles, but Camp Half-Blood _is_ home. And _he’d_ be there. Theo realizes - eventually concedes - that the burden he carries is all rooted in his yearning for one person. 

Theo starts walking, leaving trails in the sand that the waves erase just as swiftly as they imprint. He turns back one last time to the girl that may have been perfect for him in a world and a lifetime where Stiles doesn’t exist.

“He’s a witty, sarcastic brainiac,” he tells the Titaness, chest thundering for something joyous for the first time in his life. “That’s who. I am in love with a son of Athena.”

~.~

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for SteoSpooktober 2020 for the prompt: Open Water
> 
> [link to original post](https://voidstilesplease.tumblr.com/post/633385162837737472/steodiscord-steospooktober-open-water-a)


End file.
